Jason Schafer, a Black Mountain Middle School counselor for 21 years, has been selected as San Diego County’s Middle School Counselor of the Year by the county Office of Education.
Schafer’s award was announced at the Feb. 13 Poway Unified School District school board meeting.
The Counselor of the Year program recognizes the work of professional school counselors throughout the county, said Greg Mizel, associate superintendent of Student Services. Another district finalist for the award this year was Kathy Marron, a counselor at Del Norte High School.
“Many of Jason’s colleagues fondly refer to him as the ‘heart of the school,’” Mizel said during his recognition by trustees. “Jason is now the third Poway Unified school counselor to earn this recognition.”
Schafer, 53, said it is an honor to be recognized for his work serving 1,100 students in grades 6 to 8 with two other school counselors on campus. County Office of Education staff and the district’s superintendent, trustees, school staff, teachers and students held their own recognition ceremony for Schafer last week at the school.
“I hope that every day I can make a little bit of difference for people and this is recognition of that,” Schafer said the day after the school board meeting. “I love working with the middle school age group. I love the energy and there’s never a dull moment at middle school. The students are trying to figure out themselves and it’s an adventure every day.”
The Chula Vista resident said he helps students with academic counseling and provides assistance with arranging class schedules, tutors and organization, in addition to providing social emotional counseling with individuals and groups to address concerns such as peer conflicts. He also lends with college and career development, he said.
“It’s neat to have been here so long and to get to work with so many families,” he said.
Also announced at the meeting was a separate counseling award for the Bernardo Heights Middle School counseling team comprised of Marco Laborin, Carol Ochoa, Adrian Orozco and Lorretta Shughrue.
The team was named a Recognized American School Counselor Association Model Program (RAMP). Only four schools in the county have earned the RAMP distinction, Mizel said.
The RAMP program recognizes schools that are committed to delivering school counseling programs in alignment with the American School Counselor Association’s National Model framework. A RAMP designation, which is valid for five years, requires applicants to produce data and analysis demonstrating the delivery of “robust direct and indirect services to students” that result in improved student outcomes, Mizel said.
“The application process is quite rigorous, and the data requirements take two to three years to fulfill,” he said.
Superintendent Ben Churchill also announced that Mount Carmel High School Project Lead the Way engineering teacher Karen Wytmans was honored with an Outstanding High School Engineering Educator Award by the San Diego County Engineering Council.
The award will be presented to Wytmans at a Feb. 18 awards banquet at Liberty Station in celebration of Engineers Week.
“I’m very excited and happy to see the career technical education and engineering pathways recognized,” Wytmans said by telephone Friday, Feb. 14. “I’m very thankful for their of engineering educators. It’s important to expose high school students to engineering so they can pursue it in college if it’s something they enjoy.”
The Encinitas resident said she brings real-world perspectives to the classroom as a former chemical engineer at Hewlett-Packard for 22 years.
“It’s unique to have someone who worked in the industry come to the classroom,” said Wytmans. “Most started off as physics teachers and then moved over to teach engineering.”
Trustees also took action at the meeting to increase public speaking time at school board meetings from 2 minutes to 3 minutes.
The California School Boards Association is recommending public speakers be allowed 3 minutes to address the board on each agenda or non-agenda item, with 20 minutes total of speaking time for each item.
Trustees considered two options for extending the speaking time. Both versions, A and B, would allow 3 minutes per speaker to address the board with a total time of 30 minutes for non-agenda items and a total of 20 minutes for agenda items.
However, in version B, if the total time for public input exceeds 30 minutes, public comments would resume for any remaining speakers who are present at the end of the board meeting.
Trustee David Cheng, who proposed version B, said he would like to give of the public an opportunity to speak at the end of a meeting, particularly those who are unable to attend the early part of the meetings.
“If of the public are willing to spend the time, I’m happy to listen to their comments at the end,” Cheng said.
But Trustees approved version A by a 5-1 vote, with Cheng opposed.
Trustees in favor of version A said they sometimes need time at the end of public meetings to meet in closed session. They raised concerns that late night meetings could deter public participation and affect the board’s decision-making ability. Regular board meetings are usually adjourned at 10:30 p.m. unless the time is extended by a majority of the board.
Trustee Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff said the board president has the discretion, with the consent of the other trustees, to extend the total amount of speaking time per item. She said public speaking time rarely exceeds 30 minutes.
